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Local gang probe angers well-known pastor

A New Orleans preacher said he’d travel to Abbeville on Sunday afternoon to talk with local people and determine if Acadiana authorities had overstepped their bounds in investigating what law enforcement people believe is an organized gang.

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A New Orleans preacher said he’d travel to Abbeville on Sunday afternoon to talk with local people and determine if Acadiana authorities had overstepped their bounds in investigating what law enforcement people believe is an organized gang.

The Rev. Raymond Brown of the group Action Now said he was scheduled to meet with Abbeville residents at 4 p.m. They would discuss the Gremlins, what authorities say is a criminal gang that has plagued Abbeville and nearby communities.

Indictments against 17 criminal defendants were revealed in December; the accused were said to be involved in conspiracy to commit racketeering. State Police Col. Mike Edmonson said charges were expected to be added in cases of murder, attempted murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery and aggravated assault with a rifle. On Saturday, authorities said crimes occurred in four Acadiana parishes, and included intimidation of witnesses.

Ten of the 17 were taken into custody in December. An 11th defendant was arrested in Breaux Bridge on Saturday: Aaron Carter, 21, of Abbeville. He was being held in the Vermilion Parish Jail on bond set at $1 million.

Brown said he was angered by a recent video message from Capt. Clay Higgins of the St. Landry Sheriff’s Office, who, as part of his duties as department spokesman, said that accused Gremlins not in custody would be “hunted” and “trapped.” The American Civil Liberties Union has also said that Higgins’ video, which characterized the accused men as “thugs,” “animals” and “heathens,” was inappropriate.

Brown, who has been vocal in his criticism in recent years about the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office, said the video suggested the accused men might be shot before they were arrested. On the video, Higgins suggested the men would be shot if they attempted to attack law enforcement authorities who came to arrest them.

Brown also criticized the investigation of the accused, which involved Louisiana State Police, Lafayette Sheriff’s Office, Lafayette police, Breaux Bridge police, St. Martin Sheriff’s Office, Lafayette City Marshal’s Office and state Probation and Parole officers.

“If it took them a year to arrest 17 people, that’s the most sorry police department I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Brown, who suggested that the accused should be prosecuted and tried individually and not as members of an organized group.

He suggested that authorities in Acadiana had “put on a show” in investigating the crimes and making the arrests. He also said it was unlikely that a fair and impartial jury could be selected locally.